iOS developers unite against Candy Crush trademark

Developers are flooding Apple’s App Store with an assemblage of candy themed games in protest of King’s trademark on the term “candy.” Last week, developer King of Candy Crush fame, was granted a trademark on the term “candy” in Europe and is currently awaiting approval for the trademark in the US.

“BECAUSE TRADEMARKING COMMON WORDS IS RIDICULOUS, BECAUSE ETHICS MATTER AND BECAUSE IT GIVES US AN OCCASION TO MAKE ANOTHER GAME JAM”

Developers who have games that feature the word “candy” or even “saga” are being contacted by King to remove their games or change the name. Benjamin Hsu, developer of All Candy Casino Slots” was forced to change the icon and the name of his game to “All Sweets Casino Slots” as he could not afford to fight King in court.

Candy Jam also claims King is bullying smaller developers and cloning games themselves. “Unfortunately, King is not bad at only one thing : King clone games while making millions over it. King bullies smaller game devs. King use curious monetization tactics. King is disingenuous enough to say that ‘The banner [sic] Saga’, a game about vikings and well… sagas, is a ‘deceptive’ name. All of this screams unethical behaviour,” says the organizers behind Candy Jam.

Time will tell if the Candy Jam movement will have any effect against King’s litigation against all candy-based games.